Patients in Rotherham are reportedly encountering difficulties with a new artificial intelligence (AI) GP receptionist system, EMMA, which some say struggles to understand the Yorkshire accent. Healthwatch Rotherham, a health watchdog, stated that some patients could not get the system to comprehend their inquiries due to variations in speech, including regional accents and speech impediments.
The EMMA system is being used by some surgeries nationwide to triage patients and reduce long telephone wait times. Kym Gleeson, manager at Healthwatch Rotherham, noted that the system's inability to understand broad Yorkshire accents, which vary across South Yorkshire, is causing frustration.
QuantumLoopAI, the company behind EMMA, stated that the system is designed to understand a wide range of dialects and supports 17 languages in addition to English. They added that if EMMA cannot understand a patient's request, the call is transferred to a human reception team, and patients can ask to speak to a staff member at any point.
Healthwatch Rotherham has spoken with elderly and veterans groups, informing them that they can opt out of using the system. The organisation advises patients to speak to practice managers if they have concerns, and it will pass its feedback to Healthwatch England, which will then report to the Department of Health and Social Care.